Mr. Kim's Wild Ride by Darrel W. Beach Jan, 1997 Chapter 5 Something was different. With his mind and body slowly pulling themselves back into consciousness, Harry didn't know what it was exactly, but there was a quantifiable difference. It was just a feeling - no, it was a sensation. The blankets - they felt coarse against his skin. Then came the realization that he was no longer wearing his pyjamas. The mattress was too lumpy and scratchy. His foggy mind cleared up enough for him to make the conclusion that this was not his bed, and he was definitely not on Voyager. Now fully awake, Harry removed his mask to look at his surroundings. He found himself in a small room he didn't recognize. There were absolutely no adornments; the room merely consisted of a slipshod table and chair, a small window so caked with grime it barely let light pass through it, and the bed he found himself in. The place was filthy, but understandably so considering the floor was bare earth. Getting out of bed, the ensign looked more closely about the room. Draped around the back of the chair was a harness and a long narrow claymore- styled sword. At the foot of the bed he found a pile of clothes, which he assumed were his. Inspecting it he realized that it was his Beowulf costume. Obviously Tom was attempting to mend fences between them by running one of the ensign's holodeck programs - or a modification or combination of several programs, as he didn't recognize the room - and somehow transporting the unsuspecting sleeper without him knowing about it. It showed all the marks of a classic Paris practical joke, right down to the missing sleep wear. No doubt someone told him everything that had happened, and had done this to break the tension of the situation. Harry would have been mad at the lieutenant if he wasn't already, yet ironically the prank did its job; Harry snickered at the feat, and his walls of resentment crumbled slightly. Harry put on the costume to avoid any embarrassment of getting caught half naked when the program ended. "Computer: end program." Nothing happened. Harry was puzzled. "Computer: exit." Still nothing. "Computer: arch." Either the computer was malfunctioning, or this wasn't the holodeck. If the latter was true, then where the hell was he? Harry didn't panic: he had been trained by some of the best instructors at Starfleet Academy in handling unexpected situations. Still, he could hear the warning bells in his head. The best defence against the unknown was information, and he knew he wouldn't find out anything where he was now. The door opened into a small hallway, with more doors identical to his own. He guessed he was in some sort of lodging. The room at the far end of the hall was open, so he decided to investigate. It appeared to be some kind of washroom, although there was no evidence of indoor plumbing: all it contained was a long metal tub, a smaller basin resting on a table, a wood- burning stove and a mirror - the first reasonably modern convenience he had seen thus far. The washroom - or more accurately, washing room - was open to the exterior, most likely to provide access to a woodpile for fueling the stove. It was fenced off to keep predatory animals and curious passersby from intruding, yet still provided a sufficient amount of light for visibility. Harry caught a glimpse of someone in the mirror, startling him, but was even more surprised when he realized it was his own reflection. He was at a loss to explain his appearance, however; he looked nearly as unkempt as his room: shoulder-length hair, matted from the night's rest, and a thin mustache and beard that suggested he had never shaved once since puberty. He began to think of this less as a holodeck simulation when an amusing thought occurred to him: he looked like Genghis Khan! He smiled at the absurdity - the only pictures he had seen of the ancient Mongolian ruler were merely artists renderings - but pushed the thought aside. His problem was now alarmingly serious. There was no way his hair could grow this much overnight; how long had he been asleep? The more questions he came up with, the more disconcerted he became. "Were you looking to wash up?" a female voice suddenly coming from behind him asked. Harry jerked around to find the source, a young Xausan woman. That at least answered a few questions as to his whereabouts, but leaving a few more in their place. She looked comparable to him in age and height, and was quite attractive despite her stringy mouse-brown hair and simple clothing. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," she apologized. Harry swallowed his heart back into his chest. "I didn't hear you come up behind me," he panted. The young woman smiled and blushed with embarrassment. "Sorry - I've always been light on my feet. I just saw you come in here and wanted to know if you needed a hand drawing some water for the bath." "Um, no, not right now, thanks," he replied restlessly. "I didn't catch your name, Miss -" "T'Lissa," she responded exuberantly. "I help my father here at the inn, although if he had his way I'd still be at home tending the farm with my mother and brothers. What I'd really like to do is travel to Boltec, but Father would never hear of it - he thinks it's too dangerous a trip for me to travel alone." She blushed again when she realized what she was doing. "Oh, just listen to me - telling you my whole life story before I even give you a chance to tell me who you are! My parents say I don't know when to stop talking - they're convinced I like to hear the sound of my own voice." Harry smiled warmly at the inn-keeper's daughter; he saw some of himself in her. "That's okay, T'Lissa. I think you have a pretty voice." He paused for a moment. "My name's Genghis. Genghis Kim." For a while Harry forgot everything about the last two days. He was content to spend his morning chatting with T'Lissa, even while she prepared his breakfast in the tavern. He took care, though, not to give away who he was or where he really came from - wherever he was, there were no signs of the technology he had seen on Xausa III, and his observations of the talkative young woman indicated that she was unaware such technologies even existed. "Please, Genghis, tell me more of your amazing adventures," pleaded the hostess as she tended to the slab of mutton roasting in the fire pit. "What became of this sorcerer, the Caretaker?" The smell of flame-broiled meat urged his stomach to rumble - he was surprised at how hungry he was. "Well, we helped the Caretaker defeat the terrible Ogla Clan from enslaving his kingdom by destroying the Caretaker's magic before the Ogla could use it against them. Unfortunately, the Caretaker was very old and did not survive the battle. And without his help or his magic we could not transport ourselves back to our homeland." T'Lissa put a hand to her chest. "Oh, how heroically tragic! `The Tale Of The Voyagers' - you and your friends are a brave and noble lot to sacrifice your only direct way home to rescue a people you never knew. I pray the Great Power sees you on a safe journey." "Thank you, T'Lissa. I just wish I hadn't lost my way; the Voyagers are probably a great deal ahead of me," he replied, eyeing the meat as it sizzled on the fire. He should have asked if they had any fruit - what he wouldn't give for a piece of mehsla right now. As if on cue, T'Lissa removed the fare from the flames and served it on a dish before the hungry guest. "Genghis, could I ask something of you?" "Sure," he replied, hastily tearing into the breakfast. Her eyes blazed with the fire of excitement and adventure - he could see it when she jumped into the chair beside him. "Take me with you. You've lived a life of incredible adventure, standing down fearsome enemies, triumphing over great perils. I'd like to experience part of your adventure." He swallowed a mouthful. "No, I don't think so," he answered with out hesitation, following it with a slurp of mead she had poured him. T'Lissa looked ready to cry. "Why not?" she whined. "T'Lissa, you don't want to go where I'm headed. It's too dangerous for someone who lacks skill in survival and battle techniques. I haven't even got a clue what's out there. I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you." T'Lissa visibly deflated, sighing heavily. "I suppose I'll just have to wait for an eligible merchant to come along so I can claim him. Then he'd have no choice but to take me away from here." That last statement stopped Harry for a moment, bringing back the memory of Celin's imposed marriage proposal. He had to figure out a way to get back to the Voyager. "What do you mean, he's gone?" "I mean there's no trace of him being on or leaving the ship, Captain," retorted the engineer, her anger and frustration visible in her words. "It's like he just disappeared." B'Elanna Torres was furious with herself for not having found a solution to Harry Kim's unexplained disappearance. Janeway's face was masked with pure professionalism. "I'm not willing to accept that answer, Lieutenant. No one simply vanishes into thin air without some explanation. Run a full sensor sweep on the planet and on the surrounding space for any alien ships, just in case." "Aye, Captain. Torres out." She still looked visibly upset when the screen blacked out. The captain could feel the first signs of a headache coming on. "It isn't exactly good news, is it?" commented the first officer, who had overheard the whole conversation. "Commander, you certainly have a flair for understatement. This definitely complicates our situation with the royal family. Lady Celin was already starting to make noises about the ensign's absence from tonight's banquet. I doubt it will be much longer before she informs Prince Gaav of what she's doing, and I'm sure he'll want some answers." Chakotay thought about it. "Well, we could tell them he's working on a ship's problem that only his expertise can solve." Janeway frowned. "That might buy us a little time, but I'm worried the prince will demand to have Harry brought to them anyway." "Maybe, but it should give us time to get acquainted with their cultural history. How soon did Ambassador Tolis say we could visit the Hall of Records?" "Tomorrow morning." The captain brightened up a little. "If we're lucky, I'll be too busy when the prince makes his call. You know how I hate to be interrupted when I'm in the middle of something," she remarked with a conspiratorial smile. Chapter 6 B'Elanna Torres paced the floor like a caged animal. Reports from the long-range scans were due any minute, but she didn't believe they would find anything. So far nothing she tried had turned up any information about Harry's disappearance. No one aside from the ensign himself had entered or left his quarters since she and Tom visited him two days ago, and the last record of activity showed him going *into* his quarters, not out. There were no signs of residual energy patterns that might indicate weapons fire or transporter activity - unless the Xausans possessed a different kind of transporter technology, she once thought until scans of the planet returned negative. A beep from one of the consoles alerted her. As expected, there were no ships even remotely close enough to suspect them of abducting Ensign Kim. She had to fight the urge to punch a hole through the bulkhead, shaking with the pent-up up energy. Hoping to diffuse her Klingon temper, Lieutenant Paris tried to talk her down. "Whoa, take it easy, B'Elanna." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's not going to help Harry if you spontaneously combust." Torres stiffened at Tom's contact, but then relaxed at the lame joke. "I suppose not. It's just so frustrating though; I've tried looking for anything that might give us a clue, but nothing's worked. It feels like I'm missing something, but I don't know what it is," she spat out the last few words, tensing up again. "Hey, don't forget, you've got other people here to help," he said encouragingly. Tom knew she was having a difficult time dealing with Harry's absence, as he himself was. There was a strong bond of friendship amongst the three of them. It distressed the pilot to no end that the possibility existed he might not ever see Harry again, without an opportunity to make amends. He moved to her other side, putting his attention on the console display. "Have you looked at the ship's sensor logs yet? Maybe we're overlooking something." The engineer harumphed while pulling up the sensor records. "If you think you can do any better - take a look. This is what was recorded at 2145 last night," she stated, pointing to the screen data. Then she tapped a few keys. "The life-form readings indicate that Harry's asleep. Now watch what happens at 2149." Tom watched the display with intrigue as the ensign's life signs suddenly vanished. "Okay, now what's unusual about that - other than the obvious, I mean." She looked at him incredulously. "Don't you see? It's how he disappeared that's so unusual. None of the other readings changed - no unusual energy matrices, displacements or discharges, no spatial or temporal anomalies - nothing." B'Elanna turned the information over in her mind again. It looked like the only thing that would come of it was another impulse to hit something. There just wasn't any information out there; it was as if someone had snapped their fingers and made Harry disappear by magic.... The realization hit her like a photon torpedo. "Oh, no." As far as she was concerned, Kes was the perfect accomplice to join Captain Janeway on the trek to the Xausan's Hall of Records. From the Doctor's many reports, she knew the Ocampa girl was a quick study, and it would be advantageous to have someone able to recall information precisely after limited exposure. At first the guards would not allow them to enter the archive. Janeway was quite annoyed with their attitude until Ambassador Tolis contacted the guards a few minutes later. Upon hearing about the situation the ambassador expressed his sincerest regrets to the captain, not expecting them to show up so early. The two visitors were promptly shown in after that. Janeway was impressed with the vastness of information; everywhere she looked, books were either piled in huge stacks or stored on shelves. Kes appeared to be in a trance, eyes glazing at the sight of thousands of publications surrounding them. "Kes, are you sure you won't need someone to translate the text for you?" Janeway questioned. The Ocampa's attention never left the scores of books. "I don't think so, Captain. Yesterday I had an opportunity to study a few books from the palace library. It took a few hours and some tutoring, but I think I got enough of an understanding of their written language to interpret it myself." It never ceased to amaze the captain the many extraordinary abilities the young woman possessed. She was blessed with mental abilities still new or untapped, an insightful wisdom atypical for most beings her age, and a hyper-porous mind capable of absorbing an unfathomable amount of information quickly. A pity that her species was so short-lived; the Ocampa were a truly remarkable people. They spent nearly half an hour just searching the indices and rummaging through the multitudes of bound scriptures until at last they found the volume they were looking for. It took Kes several minutes to decipher the ancient alien text - the syntactic structure differentiated slightly - but shortly afterward she was transcribing the words as if she had known the language since birth. "Hmm, this is interesting," she mumbled after several minutes. The captain, almost asleep with boredom, suddenly perked up. "What is it, Kes?" Kes carefully reread the previous paragraph. "Well, it appears that Commander Chakotay's report wasn't completely accurate. "The Xausan marriage custom dates back over four thousand years ago when the current ruler decreed that women should have the sole right to choose their mates. He did it because there were two princes vying for the hand of his only daughter. The two rivals came from equally wealthy and powerful kingdoms that threatened to engage in war over the courting. In the end, the king decided to let his daughter choose whom she should marry in order to prevent the conflict, as a union would cause an overwhelming advantage for either party. "The king's decree quickly evolved into a set of laws concerning the process of courtship and marriage. A woman could basically make a claim to any man, but was constrained by the Xausan political caste system; in other words, she was limited to men of similar or lesser social standing. Very rarely could a woman improve her social status through marriage - more often than not marriage was a means of finding a husband to produce stronger, healthier offspring. "The only exceptions to the custom occurred for members of royalty - the elite class. The male gender was also given the opportunity to select their own mates, which grew out of necessity when the male population of the elite outnumbered those of the women for an extended period of their history. It was then allowed for an elite male to refuse the proposition of a woman of his caste if he desired another woman even more." "Incredible," Janeway remarked, her voice almost hushed, "how one man's decision could have such a profound cultural impact on an entire species." She let her statement hang in the air for a few moments, reflecting on her words, before slipping back into her authoritarian role. "Kes, is there anything in there we could use to our advantage?" Kes continually bobbed her head back and forth between the ancient tome and the PADD. "I'm not quite certain yet, Captain. Most of the wording is ambiguous, and could be interpreted in any number of ways. I'd need time to study this more thoroughly." "Take as much time as you need, Kes - it would be a great help to me to have someone well versed in this to back me up when I talk to the prince." After what seemed like hours to the captain, Kes finally completed the transfer. The young Ocampa appeared despondent, however, at finishing the task, admitting guiltily that she would as soon lock herself in the archive until she had read each and every book in storage. Neither of them could suppress a grin at her passionate, if not obsessive, desire for knowledge. Janeway watched as she returned the book back to its proper place. Kes lingered, panning her vision about the great library once more. Turning to go, she brushed her fingers across the bindings of the books on the shelf. Suddenly she jerked her hand away, sharply drawing in a breath. Janeway immediately made a move toward her. "Kes? Are you all right?" Kes looked slightly disoriented, her attention drawn to the volume in front of her. "I'm fine, Captain. When I touched this book I just got this sense that something or someone familiar was inside it." Kathryn's eyes grew wide with alarm. She would have liked to have dismissed her implication as an impossibility, but her scientific background rebuked the impulse. Even past history had given rise to evidence of several ways a person or ship could travel back in time. And those thoughts unnerved her. Being stranded 70,000 light years from Federation territory was difficult enough - getting stranded in time would only compound the problem. "Are you absolutely certain of that?" Kes removed the volume from the shelf, flinching at the psychic reverberation as if it was a mild electric shock. She calmly centered herself and placed a palm over the cover. "Yes, the feeling's much stronger now." Without opening her eyes, Kes opened the book. Captain Janeway's face drained of all color: on the very page Kes had displayed, embedded in the alien script, was a picture of a poorly groomed Ensign Kim, sword in hand and hair flying wild. The sun was nearing its highest point by the time Harry quit from the country inn. Although inevitable, he found it difficult to bring himself to leave. He enjoyed T'Lissa's company, even if she did attempt to influence his decision to take her along on his odyssey - `Just in case you changed your mind' she insinuated. T'Lissa was still very companionable despite her ambition and talkative nature. And she had enjoyed listening to his creatively composed life story, as much as he did telling it. Harry felt they could have developed a strong friendship had circumstances been different. He availed himself of the opportunity to bathe while he was there, grateful that at least the Xausans had evolved to the point where they recognized the importance of cleanliness. He had no idea how long it would take to reach Boltec; T'Lissa had guessed it would be at least a full day's journey on foot - her father would occasionally make weekend business trips to Boltec, but he had the luxury of a steed to expedite the travel. The young woman even offered to provide Harry with a mount, but he considered it inequitable to accept. Thus, he figured it wise to make himself as clean as possible before heading out. Fighting the bright glare of the sun with the back of his hand, Harry appreciated the prudence of that decision; already he was sweating profusely in his leathery costume. He also congratulated his astuteness for asking T'Lissa for several canteens of water and rations of fruit and cured meat. Imagine his delight when he discovered that mehsla was indigenous to this world - honeydew was one of his favorite fruits. After an hour of walking down the dusty gravel road, Harry wished he had left earlier in the morning. The blazing intensity of the summer sun bore down on him hard, rapidly depleting his energy. His light armour absorbed his perspiration, making it heavier and clammy, and caked with mud from the dust he kicked up. The sword rested uncomfortably on his waist, bouncing limply off his leg with every stride. The road itself was barren and quiet, not a single traveler to be seen in either direction. Harry surmised that most wayfarers made their journeys very early in the morning or later in the afternoon when the sun was low, thus avoiding the scorching heat and threat of dehydration or heat exhaustion. He finally decided to duck into the foliage off to the roadside. The brushwood would slow him down, but the protective shade from the trees was of much greater importance to him. But first he needed a rest and a drink. Encountering a felled trunk, Harry sat down and took a few droughts from a canteen. He also chewed down a strip of jerky; the salty meat would help prevent muscle cramps. "So, if it isn't the notorious Genghis Kim," a voice suddenly rang out from behind his shoulder. Harry abruptly swung around to see who was behind him - much too quickly to keep his balance. The ensign toppled backwards onto the ground, his legs still resting on the tree trunk. The stranger appreciated the pratfall, producing a rich throaty laugh that greeted Harry's ears almost maliciously. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, as if he knew the person to whom it belonged. Struggling to his feet, Harry faced the unknown visitor and immediately recognized him. The clothes may have been different - robes imitating the style of Louis XIV - but the face was unmistakable. The image of that man's face on Voyager's forward viewscreen would be forever burned into the ensign's memory. Harry Kim's eyes darkened to obsidian as he stared coldly at the flamboyantly dressed character. "Q. Somehow I'm not surprised that you're involved with this." The capricious entity grinned roguishly. "Well, I just happened to be in the neighborhood. I thought I'd drop by to exchange a quick hello with your Madame Captain, but I was distracted by your escapades instead. I must say, you certainly know how to keep an omnipotent being amused - quite an achievement, actually." Harry stiffened. "I'm so glad I could entertain you," he snapped sarcastically. "Would you care to tell me where in the Xausan system you've taken me - or maybe I should be asking you when?" Q regarded the shaggy ensign with mild surprise. "Aren't you the clever one? Makes me think there might yet be some hope for you pitiful creatures," he remarked indifferently, spurring a deeper frown from the ensign. The omnipresent being tediously smoothed out his robes. "Well, congratulations for figuring it out. Yes, you're still on Xausa Three about, oh, three thousand years ago, give or take a few centuries." Harry took one aggressive step toward the entity before checking himself. He would have liked to punch Q squarely in the face if not for the fact that his molecules could be disassembled with a mere thought. Q's benevolent expression soured. "So that's how you want to repay me for doing you a favor? That's gratitude for you," he sulked. "Favor?" Harry almost laughed. "You effectively kidnap me, and you call it a *favor?*" Q suddenly burst out in peals of laughter, resonating through the wilderness like ripples in a pond. "Oh, you misguided little fool! I did no such thing. I merely gave you what you wanted: to experience the natural beauty of this world, while at the same time living out the life of adventure you've always dreamed of." The ensign lost his footing in the conversation. "What - how did you know about that?" Q rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I take back what I said earlier about hope for your kind. How do you think I know?" he condescended. "Suffice it to say, I wasn't that far away when that tin can you call a ship came to this world. And it wouldn't take a mind reader to know what was on your mind, my dear boy." Harry regained a measure of aplomb despite feeling like a heel for asking such a palpable question. "Okay, dumb question. What I'd really like to know is why you brought me here, and when you plan on returning me to Voyager." Once again Q looked pained. "I already answered your first question; I gave you a chance to live out your fantasies in an environment convenient to your unique circumstance," he replied stately, sweeping the landscape with arms spread out wide. Then he looked playfully at Ensign Kim. "You're going to have so much fun you'll forget all about your current petty concerns. I'll come back for you later when you've tired yourself out. Just don't get yourself killed, and everything will be just fine. Ta-ta now!" he added with a little wave. And in a burst of light, Q was gone, leaving Harry to wonder if things could possibly get any worse.